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I am not a fan of Canola Oil. I try to avoid this oil. There is so much conflicting information out there . . . .just like with so many things that I have decided that this is one of those things that I am going to try to avoid. If you look at ingredients it is not easy to avoid canola oil. Plus I bet your favorite restaurant cooks with it. It kind of strikes me as funny that it seems to be as prevalent as High Fructose Corn Syrup and partially hydrogenated oils. Hmmm.

There is information out there that seems to emphasize that the seed used for canola oil was “naturally” bred from the rapeseed. The rapeseed produced oil that was too high in erucic acid, which is associated with Keshan’s disease, a condition which is characterized by fibrous lesions of the heart. So they bred a different seed that has less of this erucic acid . . . not none, just less. But like most things we eat it was genetically modified in the 1990’s. Eighty percent of the crops are genetically altered crops. The questions that arise for me is if it is in so many foods how can we be sure we are not consuming toxic amounts of this ericic acid? We are told that HFCS in moderation is ok, but it is in so many foods one just has to avoid those foods altogether to be able to achieve moderation. Then there is the 0 trans fat per serving allowed verbiage which doesn’t really mean NO trans fat it just means that there is less than 1 gram per serving. So if you eat two servings then you could possibly be getting a gram. Again partially hydrogenated oil is in so many prepared foods you might be getting more than a moderate amount.

Canola Oil is in many, many, many things. It is a genetically modified food. The claim is that it is low in saturated fat and contains a high amount of Omega 3. But how much erucic acid are we consuming since canola oil is in so many things? Also, I am seeing information that states the way the plant is processed into oil it burns off some of the good Omega 3 oil and replaces with . . . are you sitting down? Can you guess what? I bet you can . . . . trans fat. Yeah, there is information that states the process in which canola oil goes through to become palatable produces trans fat.

Some are comparing canola oil to margarine. Remember that people? Margarine was the health alternative to butter. Um, yeah. So like many things the information produced by the people who want us to eat the food say it is ok. The information produced by some health experts say it is not ok. So, just like with everything, you need to decide for yourself. That is all that we can do. All we can do is look at all the information that is out there and decide what works best for us—as individuals. For me, avoiding canola oil — as difficult as that is — is what I am going to try to do.

How about you? Are you a canola oil fan? If so, why? If not, why? If not, what oil do you use?